Ryan Lochte swims outside of comfort zone, fails to win on Saturday

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –Ryan Lochte stole the show during Friday night’s 400 individual medley race.

On Saturday, he did not have the same type of success–and that’s okay with him.

Admittedly swimming in races that are not his strengths during Saturday’s Arena Pro Swim Series event, the Charlotte resident finished second in the 100-meter backstroke and sixth in the 50-meter butterfly.

“Today was just about getting on those blocks and racing,” Lochte said. “It didn’t matter what event or what stroke it was.”

Lochte remained loose between events as he signed autographs and took pictures with his hometown fans. Lochte will race in three events during Sunday’s finale.

Olympic gold medalist Anthony Ervin (Valencia, Calif./Unattached) raced to the men’s 50-meter freestyle title in 21.98 seconds to highlight a full slate of racing Saturday at the Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte.

Ervin, who began training with Charlotte-based SwimMAC Carolina three weeks ago, surged down the stretch to take the win ahead of Canada’s Santo Condorelli, who was second in 22.15, and Josh Schneider (Cincinnati, Ohio/New York Athletic Club), who grabbed third in 22.16.

“We’ve been doing a lot of technique work the last few weeks. Technique work with the training, as well as trying to get that start down … I think it’s been paying off,” Ervin said. “I not only hopeful, I’m enthusiastic about the next few weeks.”

A quart of USA Swimming National Team members picked up their second victories of the meet, paced by Olympic gold medalist Conor Dwyer (Winnetka, Ill./Trojan Swim Club), who led wire-to-wire to take the men’s 400m free in 3:47.37 for victory No. 2 after winning the 200m free on Friday. “I’ve put in almost two months up at altitude, and I’m just excited to taper,” said Dwyer, who is gearing up for next month’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming in Omaha, Nebraska.

Leah Smith (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cavalier Swimming) completed the same double, winning the women’s 400m free in a meet and pool record 4:05.21. After winning the 400m IM on Friday, Olympian Cammile Adams (Cypress, Texas/SwimMAC Carolina) cruised to her second win of the meet, taking the 200m fly in 2:08.14. Cody Miller (Reno, Nev./Badger Swim Club) completed a sweep of the men’s breaststroke events, winning the 200m breast in 2:12.22.

Held at the newly renovated Mecklenburg County Aquatic Center, the long-course meters meet concludes Sunday with daily prelims at 9 a.m. EDT and finals at 6 p.m. EDT.

Other winners Saturday included:

·        Dana Vollmer (Granbury, Texas/California Aquatics) in the women’s 50m fly in 25.87

·        Annie Lazor (Beverly Hills, Mich./Auburn University) in the women’s 200m breast in 2:24.96

·        Jonathan Gomez of Colombia in the men’s 200m fly in 1:57.36

·        Chantal Van Landeghem of Canada in the women’s 50m free in 24.43

·        Kylie Masse of Canada in the women’s 100m back in 59.98

·        Arkady Vyatchanin in the men’s 100m back in 54.80

·        Condorelli in the men’s 50m fly in 23.82

Complete results from Charlotte can be found here.

USA Swimming contributed to this report